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Prisoners to engage in positive rivalry

Mar 04, 2014 News

–    National Library’s reading competition begins

For the third consecutive year, the National Library will be hosting its Champion Reader Competition for Prisoners, which is geared to positively stimulating inmates’ minds.
This is according to Merle James, a librarian, during an interview with this publication, on Friday, at the National Library. The Champion Reader Competition for Prisoners began in April 2012 thanks to Digicel’s five-year sponsorship.
James said that registration for the competition began on February 3, 2014 and is expected to conclude today. Only inmates of Lusignan, New Amsterdam, Timehri, and Georgetown prisons will be participating in this year’s tournament slated for July 16.
She noted that the competition will be divided into different categories targeting inmates: 17 to 20 years of age; 21- 35 years of age; and 36 years and above. Each category would be provided with different books pulled from a collection of secondary school Literature texts.
Reading of the books will commence on April 7 and conclude on July 7 during which time the inmates should be knowledgeable about the content of the books.
The competition will be judged by English Language and English Literature teachers.
The library hopes that by next year it would include motivational books on the list it would have prisoners read. This would need an injection of resources, probably from the business community since the library’s resources are limited.
According to James, taking into consideration the objectives of the competition, having prisoners exposed to motivational books would indeed help to stimulate positive thinking.
She said that not everyone who signs up for the competition is able to actually compete.
This is for various reasons such as non release from prison, illness, or lack of interest. For instance, in 2013, 14 prisoners of the Georgetown prisons registered but only eight took part.
The National Library’s Rural Department allows prisoners access to reading materials. The department changes the collection bi-annually to expose inmates, especially those who have been in prison for years, a wide variety of books.
According to James, the competition is geared towards improving inmates’ self esteem; instilling a sense of pride in achievements; helping them to engage in healthy rivalry; and reintegrating them into society.

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